Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: THQ
• Released on: 2008-03-07
• Platform: Windows XP

Manufacturer's Description

Soulstorm is the third & final expansion to the genre defining & critically acclaimed RTS, Dawn of War. In Soulstorm, two new armies are introduced, raising the total number of playable armies in DoW to an unprecedented count of nine while also adding additional units to all existing factions. The revolutionary meta-game that was introduced in Dark Crusade is further expanded to an interplanetary scale, allowing players to battle across a star system. Combined with its sister products, Soulstorm makes Dawn of War the largest and most detailed RTS ever released.

Two New Armies: Two new armies open up a world of strategic and story possibilities. Raising the total number of available armies in DoW to nine, these two new factions fight with a new resource derived from the souls of the faithful and the fallen.

New Air Units: Strategic warfare in the 41st Millennium gains a whole new dimension as each army gains new air units to rain death from the skies.

Brutal Domination: Wage war across an entire solar system as the metagame map introduced in Dark Crusade is expanded to an interplanetary scale. Liberate, enslave, or destroy entire worlds as you unleash your armies fury across the galaxy. Players will now strive to conquer an entire solar system with multiple planets & moons to be conquered - in total 34 maps are available to the player (25 for DC).

Enhanced Customisation: Customise your hero's weapons, items & abilities as he grows in power & personalise your army's insignias, colors, banners & names. Earn & unlock achievements & medals as you prove your superiority online.

Customer Reviews

Unimpressed.
I should state that in my younger years I was never a player of the Warhammer 40K table top game, so my introduction to the universe was via the original Dawn of War game. Which I thought was fantastic - a great mix of ENTERTAINING gameplay, great graphics and a good variety of factions and units. This was further enhanced with the Winter Assault add-on that gave us the Imperial Guard to play with and more well thought out cmpaigns.

Next we had Dark Crusade, and for me at least this is where the problems started to creep in. I've read that the makers of the series were and are trying to raise the profile of the game as a professional tournament game. Fine, but having played then become immensely frusrtrated with it, I thought that the seeminly fanatical efforts of the game developers to intricately balance all the sides in the game was actually detrimental to fun game play. According to the lore of the Warhammer 40K universe earch of the races portreyed in the game is supposed to have a distinct fighting style - the Orks are generally mele troops, the Spaced Marines are balanced between mele and ranged units, the Tau Empire are more focused on ranged firepower etc. etc. With Dark Crusade the unique nature of the factions was eroded - the Orks got Kustom Shootas (ranged units), the Tau had the Kroot mele units and the Space Marines got... Not very much. Turrets were suddenly limited to 8 per command center, but a player with significnt resources could circumvent this by building more command centres in captured territory. The whole play mechanism was changed. More balanced maybe, but as the factions became less unique the game actually became less FUN to play.

Now we get to Soulstorm. Like Dark Crusade, the campaigns have been replaced by a sort of "Risk" type game which basically makes each campaign a long series of skirmishes. The AI has become a lot better, but this has actually become seriously challenging, even on Easy difficulty. It's very nice to have the Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle, each of which allegedly has their own style of play, but unfortunately further fanatical efforts have been made to intricately balance the game, again to the further detriment of FUN PLAY. Turrets are now limited to 6 per command center, but oh dear - now players can only build 5 command centres. Builder units no longer count towards the infantry unit cap, but oh dear, each player can only have 4. Some of the basic vehicle units have rediculous unit caps, for example a player can only have ONE Space Marine artillery tank.

What all this is getting at is that each game seems to degenerate in to a general meat grinder type affair in the middle of the map, and the outcome seems to largely depend on which player can get the most advanced units to the middle the fastest. Any defensive strategy to allow time to build up an army is doomed from the start. In fact, any strategy more artfyul than sending endless streams of mele units and powerful vehicle in to the enemy base has largely become pointless.

Oh yes, and now we have air units. Largely this comprises of floating vehicles that shoot long range missiles at your troops and which seem to be poitnlessly difficult to shoot down. Nothing close to the game-revolutionising change they're advertised as.

The AI is much better than the previous DoW games and now presents a genuine challenge. I'm not sure if it's a bug in the software, but unfortunately you the player now come under incessant, mercyless attack within seconds of a skirmish battle beginning. This is great on Hard difficulty, but on easy as well? There seems to be no variation between the difficulty settings. More frustration.

Yes, the game is entertaining to some extent, and if you're a serious professional gamer then Dawn of War probably just became of great interst. My big problem with the Dawn of War series is that it's become less and less FUN TO PLAY. Add in the errosion of the faction's individuality and I must admit to having been left completely cold by what should be an ENTERTAINING EXPERIENCE.

Dawn of War: Just like you've seen it before!
I love the DOW games; they are great simple, easy and fun!

Soulstorm pushed all the right buttons, but you can tell just by looking at it that it's getting old. DOW was released in 2004, FOUR YEARS AGO! And the game engine hasn't changed!

This game is as funs as before, just don't expect any major changes.

Oh and don't get too excited about the air units, I did and I was left on the verge of tears, they are pretty awful, but then again the game is now 4 years old like I said.

Get it if you own the rest
Ok to add to what others have said (this is for single player campaign) this game could use a patch. Nothing major or game breaking, but certain niggly things that do really annoy if you have played the rest.

One thing I hate about it is that when you conquer a territory it doesn't remember your previous layout when you then defend it again. You start from scratch each time, with the exception if you buy the buildings the computer puts them out for you. Most annoying for the gun defences.

There are some definite graphic glitches I noticed quite a few when using the Sisters of Battle. Nothign game breaking but annoying. The air units, with the possible exception of the Tau ones, are useless. I actually liked the Sisters of Battle (finished on normal) they are pretty much Space Marines with some twists to them.

The Dark Eldar look great but playing them was difficult (for me). Just not my thing maybe. Finished the campaign on normal as Chaos and Sisters of Battle and on hard as Space Marines.

Storylines/cut scenes are more of the same. It is not a vast improvement over Dark Crusade by any means, and in some cases it is worse. The campaign in practice is not really much different. Every map with the exception of gates is annhilate (kill the other team base.) Every gate map is take and hold majority of critical points for a few minutes. There is more variety is DC for sure.

In summary, more of the same as Dark Crusade, some bits slightly better some bits slightly worse. The two new races are ok. Worth buying if you own the rest of the series but if you don't I would get and play the rest of them first - or if you have to buy one only get Dark Crusade. Get this when the price drops and wait in hope for a patch.